Neil J. RubenkingBitdefender SphereIf your household is crawling with PCs, this is a great solution, as it will protect them all with a full security suite. Macs just get antivirus protection, which may well be enough.

If your household is crawling with PCs, this is a great solution, as it will protect them all with a full security suite. Macs just get antivirus protection, which may well be enough.

More and more vendors are recognizing that the old three-PC security suite subscription model is fast becoming obsolete. Modern users have more than three PCs, or a mix of PC, Mac, and mobile devices. When first released, Bitdefender Sphere ($99.95, direct) offered protection for three PCs, three Macs, and three Android devices. I'm pleased to say that last month the company upgraded the product to cover all the devices you own. Specifically, it covers all devices owned by up to three individuals in a household.

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Not UniqueBitdefender's protection is similar to that of McAfee All Access ($99.95 direct for licenses, 4.5 stars), which protects all devices owned by an individual or, for $50 more, by a household of up to five individuals. McAfee does offer more choices for protection as well as an online console to manage all components of the subscription.

Norton One, now in pre-release pilot testing, protects five devices for $149.95, with an as-yet-unspecified incremental cost to add more devices. Like McAfee it features a comprehensive online console; premium-level tech support for all security problems is also included.

Bitdefender and McAfee, with protection for any number and any type of devices, are clearly the most flexible of this crowd. Norton comes close with the option to add more devices for a fee, especially if the fee turns out to be small.

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Full-Scale PC ProtectionOn each of your PCs, Bitdefender Sphere installs Bitdefender Total Security 2012 ($79.95 direct for three licenses, 4 stars). This full-featured suite takes a bigger chunk of disk space than most, but if you run it in Auto Pilot mode it takes care of security with no hassle. The independent test labs love Bitdefender, though its performance in my own antimalware tests was just average. Its phishing protection, on the other hand, is the best I've seen, even better than Norton 360 Version 6.0 ($79.99 direct for three licenses, 4.5 stars).

This suite's firewall handles security issues itself, without posing confusing conundrums for the untrained user. It accurately filters out spam while leaving good mail alone. An app for Facebook and Twitter identifies dangerous links and even offers to notify friends whose posts contain those inks. Online backup, file encryption and shredding, and system tune-up round out this impressive suite.

Antivirus Protection for MacNorton One and McAfee All Access can install a full protective suite for Macs; McAfee All Access will optionally install antivirus alone. Like Kaspersky One and Trend Micro Premium, Bitdefender Sphere offers straight antivirus protection for Macs. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac will scan for threats on demand, on schedule, and in real time. It also detects and eliminates PC viruses. True, these can't harm your Mac, but you wouldn't want to pass them around to PCs on the network.

Bitdefender Sphere

excellent

Bottom Line: If your household is crawling with PCs, this is a great solution, as it will protect them all with a full security suite. Macs just get antivirus protection, which may well be enough.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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